


Yet All Sweet with Spring

by gwyllgi



Series: Herc/Raleigh Bingo Challenge [19]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Angry Kissing, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:47:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23178706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwyllgi/pseuds/gwyllgi
Summary: Raleigh realizes that he might have misunderstood something.That had been a disaster.Written for the Herc/Raleigh Bingo Challenge prompt: Night
Relationships: Raleigh Becket/Hercules Hansen
Series: Herc/Raleigh Bingo Challenge [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/83395
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	1. Bingo Card

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from a Walter de la Mare poem, _The Birthnight_.
> 
> The challenge has been over for years, but I've thought about it every now and then. I've been feeling nostalgic lately and still want a blackout. As such, I'm still keeping track on my card; post-challenge works are stamped in grey, not black. For lack of anywhere better to put it, the first chapter is my bingo card. Click on through to chapter 2 for the fic.


	2. Yet All Sweet with Spring

That had been a disaster. Raleigh sighed as he wove his way through the maze of hallways to the medical bay. He'd hoped for an easy pick-up for some anonymous sex to scratch the itch that never entirely seemed to go away. Instead, he'd ended up handcuffed outside a gay bar with Herc, of all people, direct witness to his humiliation. The cut on his cheek stung and his eye was beginning to swell shut, and it was no more than he deserved for being such a coward.

He needed to stop dancing around the truth of his feelings and just tell Herc what he wanted.

The medic on duty eyed him reproachfully, but was at least efficient; it was hardly any time before Raleigh was leaving with some butterfly bandages, aspirin, and a cold pack. Holding the latter over his eye, he stopped in the center of the hallway, then abruptly did an about-face and marched away from his quarters. He wasn’t going to sleep anyway.

His head was a continuous ache by the time he seated himself in the scaffolding where he’d once shared a conversation with Mako. The bay it overlooked was empty now, but he could still see Gipsy in his mind, whole and so fucking beautiful. She’d never stand there again, but her echoes lingered.

It was almost an hour before he pulled himself away—his cold pack had long-since gone warm—and he followed more echoes as he made his way back to his room. He was exhausted, yet filled with a restlessness that buzzed under his skin. He paused outside his room, wavered between entering and walking off before he finally heaved a sigh and opened the door.

Head lowered as he stifled a yawn, he didn't notice the man perched on the edge of his bed until the door had nearly swung closed behind him. He froze as the door clanged shut, unable to break away from the blue eyes that pinned his. "Marshal," he said, lifting slightly at the end as though he wasn't sure if it should be a question.

"Raleigh," Herc acknowledged. "We should talk."

"Now?" Raleigh hoped he didn't sound as incredulous as he felt, but suspected he'd lost that particular battle.

A corner of Herc's mouth lifted ever-so slightly, a there-and-gone expression. "This is a conversation for nighttime." He shifted to a side in invitation—an invitation Raleigh disregarded; the room already felt too close. With a shrug, Herc settled again and considered Raleigh. "What was that about tonight?"

Raleigh scrubbed a hand over his face, wincing when his palm brushed over his swollen eye. "Didn't we have this discussion already?"

"Not this one." Herc narrowed his eyes. "Why would you say your option wasn't interested?"

Raleigh studied Herc as his thoughts tumbled over each other; only an hour ago, he'd determined the best course of action was to confess, but faced with Herc now, he lacked the words. "I haven't been that subtle. If he was interested, he'd have realized what I wanted."

"He's a fool, then." Herc rose and took the two steps necessary to clap his hand to Raleigh's shoulder. "You could do better."

"I couldn't. He's not." Raleigh shrugged off Herc's hand and stepped back. He'd never been good at retreating, but it seemed the wisest course of action—at least until his shoulders pressed against the closed door. "Marshal—"

Herc closed the distance again, and this time both hands found Raleigh's shoulders. "Raleigh. Enough with the formality. I'm here as a friend."

Raleigh couldn't help his frown, any more than he could the sharpness in his voice. "That's the problem, isn't it? I don't want you to be my friend."

Herc's grip tightened almost painfully, then fell away. "I see." Hurt flickered across his face, lingered in the tension in his jaw and the compression of his lips. "I'll leave you to it, then, Ranger."

"You don't see," Raleigh snapped, then, before he could reconsider, grabbed Herc's cheeks and slammed their mouths together.

It was a terrible kiss, little more than a rough press of lips that was quickly broken as Herc reeled back, slid away from Raleigh's hands to stare at him. "Are you taking the piss?"

A bitter smile twisted Raleigh's lips. "That's why I said my option wasn't interested." He plowed a hand through his hair as he dropped his chin to stare at Herc's boots. "You want to go now."

"You know what I want, then." Herc's tone was dark, with a hint of a growl that shouldn't be as attractive as it was. His boots came closer with deliberate steps, until his hand planted at the center of Raleigh's chest. Raleigh jerked his head up to meet Herc's gaze, unable to resist as Herc pushed him back until his shoulders hit the door again.

Before Raleigh could react, Herc's lips covered his. They were still rough, nothing soft in their meeting until Herc's tongue swept between them to trace the seam of Raleigh's sealed lips. They parted with a startled gasp, and then Herc's tongue was past them to sample Raleigh's mouth.

Raleigh didn't recognize the rasping groan as his own as he wound an arm around Herc's ribs to fist his hand in the shirt at his back. Herc's hand slid from Raleigh's chest to curve at his waist, to hold him steady as he laid claim with teeth and tongue. Only when Raleigh had been rendered breathless did Herc pull away.

"Don't tell me what I want," Herc said, his voice a low command. He skated his thumb over Raleigh's lower lip, pressed briefly at its center, then gripped his chin. "You look like shit, Raleigh. Go to bed."

Raleigh blinked his good eye, but had to admit that the order had merit; exhaustion and the throb in his head had caught up with him. "Yes, Marshal," he murmured, then caught that blue gaze again and let his lips curve with a hint of a smile. "One more bedtime kiss?"

Herc stared at him for a long moment, then hooked a hand behind Raleigh's head and tugged him down to press a surprisingly-gentle kiss over his uninjured eye. "Go to bed," he said again, then slipped around Raleigh to open the door. He didn't look back as he stepped through or as he closed the door behind him, but Raleigh was too giddy to be disappointed.

He shed his clothes like the skin of a molting snake, left a short trail from door to bed, and climbed between the sheets in nothing but his underwear. He skimmed his thumb over his lips, breath shuddering slightly at the friction over his sensitized skin, then forced himself to drop his hand and close his eyes.

They'd figure it out tomorrow. Whether Herc regretted it or not, Raleigh would still have that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still shaking off the dust. There'll be one more prompt for this series, I think.


End file.
